Machine foe



\ UNITED srA'rEs PATENT oEEICE.

HENRY ALLEN, 0E NoEwICrI, CONNECTICUT.

MACHINE Eon, DRESSING rLYGoNAL TIMBER.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 11,006, dated June 6, 1854.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, HENRY ALLEN, of Norwich, in the county of New London and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful or Improved Machine for Tapering Timber and Reducing It to a Polygonal Shape; and I do hereby declare that the same is fully described and represented in the' following specification and the accompanying drawings, letters, figures, and references thereof.

Of the said drawings, Figure 1, denotes a top view, Fig. 2, a side elevation, and Fig. 3 an end elevation of my said machine.

In the same, A, represents a strong carriage or bed which is supported and made to move rectilinearly on a frame or ways, B, B. This carriage has two puppet heads C, D, extended above it and for the purpose of respectively supporting the two chucking centers, a, b, for centering and holding the stick to be reduced. The screw, c, of one of these chucking contrivances is provided with "a ora'e wheel el havin@ notches made at b b 7 b l equal distances apart on its periphery. A spring detent, e, serves to act in connection with the notched wheel and hold it in posi tion when the detent is in any of its notches.

Attached to the carriage is a long adjustable pattern rail', D, whose upper surface or edge is curvedv to the shape or taper to which the stick is to be reduced in a longitudinal direction. Such rail is so applied to the carriage, A, as to be capable of a slight rectilinear adjustment at either end of it, this being accomplished by any well known means.

A frame, E, extends above and from the ways, B, B, and serves to support between vertical and parallel guides, F, F', a sliding carriage or frame, G, such frame being made to be supported by and play freely in a vertical direction between these guides. The said frame, G, carries a vertical shaft, H, which revolves in a horizontal direction within boxes I, K, and has a pulley, L, iixed on the top edge of the pattern rail, D, but to be capable of a free vertical and longitudinal movement on the frame. This slide rest is jointed to one end of a lever, Q, which has for its fulcrum a pin, R, inserted in a cross bar, S, of the frame G. The handle of the lever lays against a perforated adjustable size plate, T, and rests on a pin, U, inserted in some one of the perforations, i, c', &c., of such plate. This plate is attached to the frame or carriage, G, by set screws, g, g, that work through slots, It, L, made through the plate. The perforations through the size plate should be so arranged as to indicate different sizes or diameters of `polygonal cross sections in order, that the work may be reduced accordingly. By. taking hold of the handle of the leverand elevating it we raise the frame, G, on the slide rest, P, whlile the latter is resting on the pattern r3.1

By the employment of a sliding tracer, or rest, P, operated as described, instead of one immovable with respect to the frame, G, the tracer can be adapted to rendering the cutter wheel capable of reducing various sizes of work. This is an important improvement in a machine for turning irregular forms.

The carriage, A, may be moved by any suitable mechanism; I employ a rack and pinion, the rack being placed longitudinally against and under the bottom of the carriage and made to engage with a pinion affixed on a shaft, V, the rack and pinion being denoted at, W, X, in the drawings, by dotted lines. Fixed on the shaft, V, are two bevel gears, A', B', which are placed at a distance apart somewhat greater than the diameter of beveled pinion, C', which is arranged between them, and fixed on the lower end of an upright shaft, D. The said shaft, D', near its lower end has a bearing on a lever, E', which turns horizontally at one end on a fulcrum, F and is connected at itsA other end by a projection, G', with a slide rod, H', that is moved by a lever, I, the said lever so serving -to move the said slide rod as to cause the pinion, C', not only to be moved at pleasure out of gear with both of t-he bevel gears, A', B', but into gear with either of them, whereby` the, carriage, A, when thepinion is in revolution may be set in motion on its rails either forward or backward as circumstances may require.

The shaft, D', is put in revolution by an endless band,` K, that is made to work around two sets or cones of pulleys, L, M, one of which derives its rotary movements from an endless belt, N, which proceeds from a pulley, O, iXed on the driving or main shaft, l\'.

The operation of the machine may thus be described. A stick of timber being chucked to the carriage, A, the cutter wheel is put in revolution and lowered down by the workman or attendant until it commences to reduce or act upon the wood. The carriage next advances until t-he stick has been reduced its entire length. This operation may be repeated as often as may be necessary. Next, the stick is turned transversely so as to bring another portion of it under the action of the cutter wheel, and the carriage, A, is set in mot-ion so as to again reduce the stick. Thus, the operation may be continued u'nt-il the stick has been reduced to a polygon in cross section, and With a taper from one end to the other, which taper may vary in shape to such extent as the machine will admit.

Ido not claim the employment 'of a patt-ern rail to guide a rotarycutting tool or wheel over a piece of work, as I am aware such has been used in machines for turning oars, or other irregular forms, nor do I claim the invention of a tracer permanently fixed to the frame G, but

What I do claim is- The improvement whereby the said cutting tool may be adapted to the reduction of a stick of any ordinary diameter and to a size suitable to the stick as described, such improvement consisting in combining with the tool frame, G, the sliding rest, P, operated by the lever, Q, and held in position by it and the perforated size plate, T, as specified. l

In testimony whereof, I have hereto set my signature this eighteenth day of July A. D. 1853.

HENRY ALLEN.

lVitnesses R. H. EDDY, B. F. DARN. 

